This invention generally relates to online content distribution, and, more specifically, to determining criteria for selecting a target audience for receiving content.
Content providers produce content that is targeted to certain audiences within online systems. Users interact with content received from the online system. These user interactions include accessing and viewing the content, indicating to the online system that they like the content, recommending the content to other users, commenting on the content, executing a transaction in response to viewing the content, and the like.
Users typically get a large number of content items and interact with only a few content items received. Online systems often send content items to users that are ignored by the users receiving the content item. As a result, the online system wastes resources while sending these content items. Content providers would like to send content to users that are likely to interact with the content. Content providers typically specify criteria describing the users to whom the content should be sent, for example, their age group, gender, and so on, but sometimes it is difficult for content providers to determine best set of users to which the audience should be limited, and the right audience size. The criteria provided by content providers is often too broad resulting in content being sent to a large audience, including many users that are not likely to interact with the content. If the content provider is paying the online system for sending the content to users, the content provider ends up wasting their resources by sending content to users that do not interact with the content.